


Nighttime Glow

by angelumcaedis



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Character Study, Gen, One Shot, Short
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-02
Updated: 2017-07-02
Packaged: 2018-11-22 13:27:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 440
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11381136
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/angelumcaedis/pseuds/angelumcaedis
Summary: Castiel likes riding in the Impala.





	Nighttime Glow

Castiel likes riding in the Impala. 

He likes the wide back seat, the worn leather shifting and creaking under his vessel’s weight as he slides into the car’s embrace, feeling welcomed and accepted by this vehicle that is as much a part of the Winchester family as Dean and Sam themselves. From his place at their backs he can watch the brothers bicker and laugh, warmth filling the small enclosed space. Every time they drive the Impala a little more of that warmth embeds itself in the car. Over time, the car has developed a soul, for lack of a better word. But how else can Castiel describe the subtle glow that only he can see oozing from every crevice and crack in the car’s chassis? It brightens when Dean approaches, flares when he sings her praises, flickers when one of the boys comes back injured or distraught. The glow is brightest by the brothers, their own souls mingling with the car’s until indistinguishable from one another. 

At first, the Impala didn’t take kindly to Castiel’s presence - he could see how she shied away from him and gleamed intensely around her two main inhabitants as though to protect them. The closer he grew to Sam and Dean, however, the more the car came to accept him until he could take his place in the backseat and she would glimmer at his back, just to say hello. She knew that he, like her, protected the brothers with everything he had. 

He looks at them now, Sam sleeping in the passenger seat, exhausted from their latest narrow escape. Dean drives, the circles under his eyes deepening with every mile. They’ll have to stop soon, but for the meantime, Castiel gazes out the window at the clear night sky. He feels less and less connected to the heavens every day, every time he rides in this car and contributes a bit of himself to the Winchesters’ home. A part of him misses heaven, the light that suffused everything and everyone, blotting out the darkness before it had the chance to exist. 

Castiel used to be part of that light. 

Tearing his eyes from the stars, he looks back to the Winchesters. Sam sighs in his sleep, shifting slightly as he dreams. Dean glances down at his brother, and Castiel catches a soft smile creep onto the hunter’s face. 

Their souls shimmer particularly brightly at night, he thinks. When the car rolls down endless highways, streetlights are few and far between - but between the twinkle of the stars and the gentle glow from his family, Castiel has all the light he could ever need.

**Author's Note:**

> First fic posted on the Archive. Written May 2017. Unbeta'd. Thank you for reading.


End file.
